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Satan rir media (Satan Rides the
Media) is a 1998 Norwegian documentary by Torstein Grude. The
film covers the controversy that surrounded black metal musician Varg Vikernes in
the early 1990s, who not only has been tied to a series of church
arsons in Norway, but received widespread media attention for the
murder of Mayhem
band member Øystein Aarseth.

According to Satan rir media, two (unnamed) trainee
journalists had approached the Bergens Tidende (BT), a major
Norwegian newspaper, with a story they had done with Vikernes. This
story mentioned the torching of churches and a murder which
attracted the interest of crime journalist Finn Bjørn Tønder. He
persuaded the two to show him the man and eventually met Vikernes,
describing him in the documentary as the "weirdest person I think I
have ever met in my life". Tønder conducted an interview with
Vikernes and promised him full anonymity. According to Vikernes the
journalist claimed he needed a photo of Vikernes in order to prove
to his collegues that the interview was real, but that this photo
would never be used in the newspaper. The night before the article
was published in the newspaper, Vikernes was arrested.

While Tønder insists in the documentary that he had protected
his source. Vikernes was convinced that Tønder was a police
informant. In the film Svein Erik Krogvold, the main police
investigator in the case, confirms that the journalist Finn Bjørn
Tønder indeed did give them the information leading to the arrest
of Vikernes. He felt that this was OK given the nature of this
case.

The documentary also shows the development of the Norwegian
Black metal scene, the inspiration for it, prevailing thoughts and
attitudes and ultimately how the Norwegian media contributed to
making the scene known worldwide by hyping the Satanist angle and
thus inspiring copycatarsons.

It is interesting to note that in the segment where Vikernes is
talking about the murder of Aarseth, the scene fades out just as he
is about to explain his side of what happened in the apartment;
that it was in self-defense, leaving the viewer to assume that it
was a pre-meditated murder motivated by an aforementioned power
struggle between the two in the black metal scene. A full account
of the incident is provided by Vikernes on his band, Burzum's website. [1]

Satan rir media (Satan Rides the Media) is a 1998 Norwegian documentary by Torstein Grude. The film covers the controversy that surrounded black metal musician Varg Vikernes in the early 1990s, who not only has been tied to a series of church arsons in Norway, but received widespread media attention for the murder of Mayhem band member Øystein Aarseth.

According to Satan rir media, two (unnamed) trainee journalists had approached the Bergens Tidende (BT), a major Norwegian newspaper, with a story they had done with Vikernes. This story mentioned the torching of churches and a murder which attracted the interest of crime journalist Finn Bjørn Tønder. He persuaded the two to show him the man and eventually met Vikernes, describing him in the documentary as the "weirdest person I think I have ever met in my life". Tønder conducted an interview with Vikernes and promised him full anonymity. According to Vikernes the journalist claimed he needed a photo of Vikernes in order to prove to his colleagues that the interview was real, but that this photo would never be used in the newspaper. The night before the article was published in the newspaper, Vikernes was arrested.

While Tønder insists in the documentary that he had protected his source. Vikernes was convinced that Tønder was a police informant. In the film Svein Erik Krogvold, the main police investigator in the case, confirms that the journalist Finn Bjørn Tønder indeed did give them the information leading to the arrest of Vikernes. He felt that this was OK given the nature of this case.

The documentary also shows the development of the Norwegian Black metal scene, the inspiration for it, prevailing thoughts and attitudes and ultimately how the Norwegian media contributed to making the scene known worldwide by hyping the Satanist angle and thus inspiring copycatarsons.

It is interesting to note that in the segment where Vikernes is talking about the murder of Aarseth, the scene fades out just as he is about to explain his side of what happened in the apartment; that it was in self-defense, leaving the viewer to assume that it was a pre-meditated murder motivated by an aforementioned power struggle between the two in the black metal scene. A full account of the incident is provided by Vikernes on his band, Burzum's website.[1]